Liga 1 (English: League One), formerly known as the Indonesia Super League (ISL), also called Go-Jek Liga 1 for sponsorship reasons, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Indonesian football league system. It has been operating for nine years since the 2008–09 season. It had been organized by PT Liga Indonesia (LI) until 2015, when the PT Liga Indonesia Baru (LIB) was created for the 2017 season.[1]

History

In 1994, PSSI merged Perserikatan and Galatama to formed Liga Indonesia, integrating the fanaticism in the Perserikatan and the professionalism of Galatama with the aim of improving the quality of Indonesian football. And also marks a tiered system in Indonesian football league in the level of competition.[2]

In 2008, PSSI organize Indonesia Super League as the first professional football league in Indonesia, replacing Indonesia Premier Division as top-tier competition in Indonesia.[2] Indonesia Super League which puts full competition format, became a new thing for Indonesian football. Persipura was the team with the most championship titles with 4 titles.[3]

It was once competing together with the Indonesian Premier League as the top-tier competition from 2011 to 2013, after which the ISL would once again emerge as the top level competition following the disbandment of the IPL.[4][5]

The last champion of the Indonesian Super League in 2014 was Persib. Unfortunately in 2015, the league is suspended because Indonesia got sanction from FIFA until 2016.[2]

In 2017, the competition starts again using the official name Liga 1.[2]

Format

For most of Liga 1's history, there were 18 clubs competing at the top level. One season (2014) was played with 22 teams for the merging of the two professional leagues in Indonesia – Indonesia Premier League and Indonesia Super League. Below is a complete record of how many teams played in each season throughout the league's history;

18 clubs: 2008–2013, 2015–present

22 clubs: 2014

From 2017 season if 2 or more teams are tied in points (for every place), the deciding tie-breakers are follows:

Seasons in Liga 1

There are 35 teams that have taken part in 9 Liga 1 in a single round that was played from the 2008–09 season until the 2018 season, including the abandoned 2015 season. The teams in bold compete in Liga 1 currently. There are seven teams that has played ISL/Liga 1 football in every season.